Carbonation Question

[reedequine]

Have been tasting my second batch- a Duvel clone from page 50 of BYO's clone issue-extract w/ grains. The beer is a great success, tastes sublime. However I think the carbonation, although there is plenty and I get a great "lacey" head seems to be a little weaker than the real stuff and doesn't seem to last as long,especially if poured a little too vigorously. Is there a way to strengthen carbonation without kegging? Will adding a tad more sugar at priming help this?

 

[Brewtopia]

For my Tripel, I added a bit more priming sugar and dosed with 3g of Safale T-58 dry yeast in the bottling bucket just to try and get the carb level up to that of a true Belgian Tripel. Just bottled yesterday so I can't speak to whether it worked or not. I'll report back in 2-3 weeks. That is unless I'm killed by shrapnel from exploding bottles. :cross:

 

[Kayos]

How much sugar did you use to prime? Was it dextrose?

 

[Brewtopia]

1 cup corn sugar as opposed to the normal 3/4 cup

 

[reedequine]

This batch is only 3 weeks in bottle. Will conditioning help the carbonation? Also, does it help to gently mix up the yeast in the bottle to stir things up? (After a week or two).

 

[lgtg]

I'm a novice here, so feel free to decimate any thing that seems backwards to any of you.

First of all, if your batch size allows, CO2 is a natural by-product of primary fermentation. For me, I don't see how anyone could want to "squander" that free and natural carbonation. What I do is stick it into a cold environment. Yes, cold conditioning aids in the natural absorbtion of CO2 into liquids. So, into the fridge it goes. If your handy, figure a way to afix a pressure gauge to your primary fermeter (mine came equipped with one) you will see the psi on it. After placing it into the fridge, you will see the psi drop.

Take it out of the fridge after a few days, rack it if you want for clarification. Prepare for bottling in the mean time. Add corn sugar at bottling day and you should be just fine. I just experimented with a batch the did NOT include this cold conditioning, and it was flat man, I mean FLAT! Seconary for a little over a week, corn sugar at bottling. Sampled a bottle after about six days and I was very happy at the carb level.

had another batch in primary, finished the fermentation. had about 15 to 17 psi on the gauge, stuck it into the fridge, after three days, the gauge is at zero. Where is the CO2? Pulled a few ounces and what do you know? IT's In THE BEER!!

I still plan on racking to secondary for a few and then on bottling day fixing up som dextrose to add and I'll let you know.

As the crow flies, the bottle I opened tonight is still very green at one week. No head retention but mouth feel was very acceptable. Trust in time above all. I can imagine what this beer will be like in two or three more weeks.

Good Luck

Larry